New Report Highlights Role of Federal Agencies in Promoting Emerging Technology Trends

In Accenture’s Technology Vision 2018 -- a new report outlining forthcoming trends seen as likely to be major factors throughout the remainder of 2018 – the company singles out “five emerging trends shaping the way technology is increasingly interwoven across society and commercial and government activities.”

The five trends are:

Citizen AI

Extended Reality

Data Veracity

Frictionless Business

Internet of Thinking

On the subject of artificial intelligence, Accenture states its belief that “AI must be “raised” to act as a responsible representative of the agency, and a contributing member of society.” This will be achieved primarily through “data inputs” that are “well-documented, organized, and properly labeled.”

With the increased uptake of virtual and augmented reality devices – together dubbed “extended reality” in the report – Accenture says that “well-planned forays into immersive experiences” may be transformative, specifically pointing to examples such as the use of virtual reality to create 3D, interactive models of traditionally 2D medical imaging, like CT scans and MRIs.

Unsurprisingly, “86 percent of federal executives…report their organizations are increasingly using data to drive critical and automated decision making,” according to the report. Accenture writes that “total spending on big data and analytics solutions is predicted to rise at a compound annual growth rate of 10.8 percent—from nearly $8 billion in 2016 to approximately $13.3 billion in 2021.”

According to the report, “federal agencies have a central role to play as technology promoters, consumers, and regulators,” encouraging agencies to “put forth deliberate plans to address” the key trends highlighted.